The chairman of the Jewish Agency has predicted Israel will enjoy a boom in aliyah in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

Isaac Herzog told the Ha’aretz Judaism conference that there was “no doubt” that the country would see “a big wave in aliyah” shortly as Israel’s situation was better than elsewhere.

“We are talking about a lot of potential new olim who have academic degrees and important skills that will for sure contribute to Israeli society,” he said.

So far, around 1,200 people have made aliyah this year despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, going into a 14-day quarantine on arrival.

Many diaspora communities were under “terrible stress” from financial pressures under lockdown and calls on their services from those in need.

The Agency had so far distributed £5 million in loans to communities abroad from a special coronavirus crisis fund, he told the online forum.

Aliyah from the UK reportedly was down more than half in the first four months of the year compared to 2019 with many people having to postpone their emigration to Israel because of movement restrictions.

But Israel has already begun to ease its lockdown with children returning to school nearly a fortnight ago.

David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, said the state of diaspora Jewry was “not good”, with Jewish illiteracy posing the gravest danger.

He called for Jews to become “fluent in Judaism” through a deep understanding of “our past, our heritage and our legacy”.

Doing things that were “morally just or helpful to others” added nothing to fluency, he contended.